Living life as we make it...

     Living life as we make it comes down to a simple choice--do you want to enjoy it to its fullest or do you want to find reasons to find a negative point in every aspect of your life.  My decision came early in life, when I chose to allow myself to be free and be me, not what others desired to be "the right and only way".  As with most people, who were not part of a clique in school, I didn't necessarily fit in, but I also didn't care.  Some teenagers desire to "fit in" supersedes their own desires of being happy as long as they can be part of the in-crowd.  What they don't understand is you can be friends with any of those people....the in-crowd, the medium crowd, and the picked on group.  If they choose to acknowledge you, that is just one more friend they've made; however, if you get blown off, don't worry about it...life is too short to worry about whether or not someone will be your friend or not.  The older you get the more you will begin to realize this aspect of life.  Remember the main desire for yourself should be your own personal happiness during these times, as it will be fundamental in your adult life.
     Growing up carefree and not so rich in the monetary way was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me.  My parents raised my siblings and me to know that hard work, determination, love, family, and humor were the things in life that would get you through in the darkest and hardest of times.  No matter what was going on there was this feeling of being carefree even when others would deem it not to be safe.  "You only live once" and "hard work paired with determination pays off in the end", were sayings that were repeated quite often.  That and "if they have money, then no we aren't related to them", which is still said to this day when people inquire whether we are connected in some way to another family with the same surname.  Some people are surprised by the comment and others laugh right along with us.  With our large family and extended family, we all learned to laugh, not only during the best of times, but the worst or difficult times.  Humor and laughter can get you far into this world, provided it is not mean or negative towards another person or thing.  The latter is only going to come back at you two-fold.  However, if you are having just plain, good, old fashioned fun--laughter can raise you up to a natural high.  With having humor and the ability to have laughing in your life, you can face many obstacles.  Whether you are facing a down week for whatever reason to that of a medical cause, you can find ways to not only ease your own fears but those who surround you.  Dealing with a severe chronic illness with humor makes those around me feel a bit more relaxed and in turn makes me even happier. 
     So, as you can see, even though I jumped several years from teenager, youth, and adulthood, I have made it one of my ultimate life aspects to remember all the things that were taught in our family.  Being positive and happy is at the top of my list, followed by my sense of humor (which is even infectious towards my general practioner and specialists--they love it too), is something that carries me through the bad days--that and the love as well as support of my family and friends.  Without these things that were instilled in me, which were carried over into my own children, life wouldn't look so wonderous on the gloomiest days.  Remember to always be yourself and try to find any positive thing that you see or hear to make it your life a little (or lot) better of day. Peace <3